Muhammad Chatib Basri is an economist, researcher, and professional. His expertise is mainly in the fields of macroeconomics, international trade, and political economy. Chatib Basri studied at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia. During his study at the University of Indonesia, he obtained a scholarship to continue his study. He earned his master degree in development economics from the Australian National University in 1996. He also got his PhD in economics from the same university in 2001.
Chatib Basri began his career as a research assistant in the Department of Economics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (1994-2001). In the government, he had been entrusted to serve as an adviser at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (2004-2005), Deputy Minister of Finance for the G-20 (2006-2010) and Sherpa summit of G-20 in Washington (2008), and Vice Chairman of the Presidential Economic Committee (2010-2012). In 2012, Chatib Basri was assigned to be the Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). Subsequently, he was appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to serve as the Minister of Finance (2013-2014).